Age is vote-winner, says Lib-Dem leader

Sep 18 2007 by Rob Merrick, Liverpool Daily Post

SIR Menzies Campbell insisted his age could be a vote-winner for the Liberal Democrats, as he tackled the thorny issue head-on at the party’s conference at Brighton yesterday.

The Lib-Dem leader – put on the spot during a question-and-answer session – said politics was “not so much about age, it’s about judgment and experience”.

And he joked: “I know age is a real problem, but I promise not to take advantage of the youth and inexperience of my opponents.”

The quip – a famous quote by Ronald Reagan, when he ran for president at the age of 73 – came after renewed unhappy mutterings by some Lib-Dems about their 66-year-old leader.

Yesterday, Charles Kennedy dismissed the idea that the arrival of Gordon Brown as prime minister and Tory leader David Cameron had made Sir Menzies’s task harder.

Meanwhile, Sir Menzies also accused Mr Brown of performing a “great tease” on the British public about a possible snap election next month.

The Lib-Dem leader said the last four weeks – during which the prime minister has refused to rule out an October poll – made the argument for fixed, four-year parliaments.

And he repeated his call for Mr Brown to seek his own mandate to govern the country, adding: “We are ready. Bring it on.”

The staged question about his age – the issue that has dogged Sir Menzies’s leadership – was immediately seen as an attempt to silence his critics.

He also urged his party not to let “old prejudices” stand in the way of increasing its number of women MPs.

Last night, Sir Menzies also faced a challenge to his insistence there is no need for a referendum on the proposed European Union reform treaty. A group of 34 Lib-Dem councillors released an open letter insisting the treaty was “essentially the same” as the aborted EU constitution.

The 34 include Liverpool councillor Stuart Monkcom, who represents the West Derby ward.